U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the coalition would investigate reports that dozens of innocent civilians mistaken for jihadist fighters were killed.
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“In order to protect civilian lives and property and to protect the town from destruction, we announce that we accept the initiative under which besieged IS members would leave with their individual light weapons”, said the Manbij Military Council, part of the SDF. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
The U.S. has confirmed causing 36 civilian deaths since it began airstrikes on Syria in the summer of 2015, a figure that is strongly contested by outside observers, according to The Guardian.
The raids also drew condemnation from the UN’s children agency, which said that “more than 20 children were reportedly killed” in the raids on Al-Tukhar.
Backed by the US-led coalition forces, the SDF bombed ISIS positions in central Manbij, north of Aleppo.
“As with any allegation we receive, we will review any information we have about the incident… such as the proximity of the location” to coalition air strikes, it wrote in an email to AFP.
Facebook pages managed by Syrian activists urged people around the world to take to the streets to protest the deaths under the banner “Manbij is being exterminated”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the clashes as “violent between both parties inside Manbij city, accompanied by shelling exchange between both parties”.
In an attempt to further diminish the territory of ISIS, a U.S. air strike killed 85 civilians Tuesday evening.
The US-led anti-ISIS coalition on Thursday allegedly issued an ultimatum to jihadists in Manbij (their stronghold in northern Syria between Raqqa and Aleppo), who under siege by Arab-Kurdish troops supported by the coalition.
A reported eight families were accidentally targeted as they attempted to flee conflict in the area.
That number includes 29 children and 16 women, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which calculated the death toll.
America has been waging war in Syria for several years – ostensibly against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
SOHR’s director Rami Abdul Rahman told Agence France-Presse he believed the attacks were a mistake, and that the U.S.-led coalition likely thought the civilians were ISIS fighters.
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The civilian casualty death toll for the United States-led coalition in Syria is rising, and the public must hold the government accountable.
